Question

ActiveX, Javascript, and unsafe C# code

Asked by: Drunkard

I have a web page that has to have access to a DLL on the client machine...so I invoke the following call
       <OBJECT id="SPW" height="0" width="0" classid="http:TestComp.dll#TestComp.MyControl" VIEWASTEXT></OBJECT>

then later I call a method contained within the DLL
        <script type="text/javascript">      
            function callMe() {
                document.getElementById("TextBox1").innerText = SPW.callme();
            }                               
        </script>

This works fine, until I have to to compile the DLL with the Allow Unsafe Code Block setting to true.

Ok, I suspect its unsafe and as a protection I get the message" Microsoft JScript runtime error: Object doesn't support this property or method"...is this even possible? and are there any articles that discuss this?

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Asked On
2006-06-01 at 08:17:30ID21871197
Tags

activex

,

javascript

,

code

Topics

Miscellaneous Web Development

,

ActiveX

,

OpenLaszlo

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: rherguthPosted on 2006-06-01 at 13:35:00ID: 16811163

I'm not sure why you are seeing this behavor.

The javascript error you are seeing indicates that the callme() method is not found on the object SPW.  If the browser security settings were blocking the object, then SPW would be unavailable and you would see an "object not found" type of error.  You can test for this type of error using:
if (!SPW) alert("ActiveX component not installed")

So you have built a DLL in C# and have exported a COM interface?
Since javascript can only late-bind to SPW, the callme() method must be on the default interface, otherwise, it will be invisible to the browser.  The object browser should identify the callme() method on the default interface.

Is it essential that you use pointers?  Is it possible to use the COM Interop functions to marshall the pointers?

It seems that the best way to diagnose this may be to export the interface with and without the unsafe code block and see what the differences are.

 

by: DrunkardPosted on 2006-06-01 at 16:35:47ID: 16812312

The javascript error you are seeing indicates that the callme() method is not found on the object SPW...I agree

I'll add the test and get back to you

So you have built a DLL in C# and have exported a COM interface?  Not sure what you mean by export Comm Interface.

Is it essential that you use pointers?  The code that is contained within the DLL uses pointers...Is it possible to use the COM Interop functions to marshall the pointers? Dunno, not familar with this interested to learn

 

by: rherguthPosted on 2006-06-02 at 10:38:25ID: 16818632

If you're not using a COM interface on a .NET component, then it probably is a client security issue.  By default, "Allow Calls to Unmanaged Code" is set to No for assemblies in the Intranet and Internet zones.  This is set on each client in the Control Panel under .Net Framework Configuration.  If you use Active Directory, the settings can be pushed out at the enterprise level.

Are the calls to unmanaged code Windows API calls?

 

by: rherguthPosted on 2006-06-02 at 12:54:21ID: 16819733

Your question title has ActiveX in it, which is why I originally asked about exposing a Component Object Model (COM) interface.  I don't think that is what you're actually doing.  Which is fine.

Take a look at this link that describes how to request permission to run unsafe code.  Note that the client still needs to provide that permission via the method above.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/csref/html/vcwlkSecurityTutorial.asp

The interesting part:
private static void CallUnmanagedCodeWithPermission()
    {
        // Create a security permission object to describe the
        // UnmanagedCode permission:
        SecurityPermission perm =
           new SecurityPermission(SecurityPermissionFlag.UnmanagedCode);

        // Check that you have permission to access unmanaged code.
        // If you don't have permission to access unmanaged code, then
        // this call will throw a SecurityException.
        // Even though the CallUnmanagedCodeWithPermission method
        // is called from a stack frame that already
        // calls Assert for unmanaged code, you still cannot call native
        // code. Because you use Deny here, the permission gets
        // overwritten.
        perm.Assert();

        try
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Attempting to call unmanaged code with permission.");
            NativeMethods.puts("Hello World!");
            NativeMethods._flushall();
            Console.WriteLine("Called unmanaged code with permission.");
        }
        catch (SecurityException)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Caught Security Exception attempting to call unmanaged code. Whoops!");
        }
    }

 

by: DrunkardPosted on 2006-06-05 at 07:52:55ID: 16833503

Ok, I added the following call if (!SPW) alert("ActiveX component not installed")
and the alert window never pops up...so, I read the security article and tried it
<script type="text/javascript">      
function callMe() {
                if( !SPW )
                    alert("ActiveX component not installed");
                document.getElementById("TextBox1").innerText = SPW.callme();
            }                               
        </script>
...the thing is  

 

by: DrunkardPosted on 2006-06-05 at 07:53:54ID: 16833510

...the this is, is that SPW.callme never gets invoked

 

by: rherguthPosted on 2006-06-05 at 09:29:38ID: 16834521

So if you replace SPW.callme() with "Hello World" in the above,
does it change the textbox?

Sometimes I do that just to determine if Javascript is crashing, or if the line is just not being hit.  If Hello World displays, then javascript is crashing silently when SPW.callme() is being called.  In this case, my observation is that javascript will exit function callMe() immediately and then restart on the next line after the function call.

At any rate, if this is what it does, then you should take a look at the .Net component and probably put some MessageBox alerts in the .Net code as described in the article to determine where the code is crashing.  You should also look at the fusion log, to see if there are any assembly errors there.  There will be a text file in your IE temp files area:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your profile name>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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